Jon Walters is spot on but Austria find saver against Ireland

JON WALTERS kept the Republic of Ireland’s qualifying hopes alive with a first-half double only to see Austria seal a stoppage-time equaliser in a 2-2 draw in Dublin.

PUBLISHED: 00:01, Wed, Mar 27, 2013

Jon Walters was Republic of Ireland's hero against Austria

Walters struck from the penalty spot with 25 minutes gone after Shane Long had been felled by Emanuel Pogatetz, and then headed home a Glenn Whelan corner to cancel out an opener from Martin Harnik.

But the visitors’ David Alaba then gatecrashed the party, snatching a point at the death when he smashed home an equaliser two minutes into added time.

Republic captain Steven Davis said: “If you don’t take your chances at this level, you get punished.

“If you analyse the game, we had the majority of chances and possession. So we’re massively disappointed again. But we cannot keep letting this happen. It’s such a frustrating night for us.”

Austria took the lead in the 11th minute after Zlatko Junuzovic robbed Ciaran Clark and then squared for Harnik, who took a controlling touch before steering the ball expertly past the helpless David Forde.

Scotland were once again off the pace as they slumped to their fourth successive qualifying defeat, with a 2-0 setback against Serbia in Novi Sad.

Gordon Strachan’s much-changed side held out at the Karadjorje Stadium until the break, but a second-half double by Heerenveen striker Filip Djuricic gave the home side a deserved win.

The Scits remain bottom of Group A, with two points from six games ahead of the trip to Croatia in June.

Austria's David Alaba wheels away after his late equaliser crushed Ireland

The visitors were on the defensive for much of the match played on a glue pot of a surface.

Strachan conceded: “It was heavy going and I thought technically they were a right good side and physically they were stronger than us.

“But one thing is they didn’t have bigger hearts than us. Some of those players out there have not played internationals before, some were playing with injuries, some of them are not getting games for their club. But they took responsibility on their shoulders.”

Stand-in keeper David Marshall made saves from Djuricic and Dusan Basta, while Vladimir Stojkovic was a mere spectator at the other end.

Israel weathered the storm early to clinch a 2-0 win over Northern Ireland in their qualifier at Windsor Park, thanks to second-half strikes from Lion Refaelov (77th) and Eden Ben Basat (84th).

The hosts were unfortunate to reach half-time without a goal and manager Michael O’Neill, who has not won any of his nine matches at the helm, lamented: “It’s hugely disappointing, hugely frustrating.

“I felt we controlled large portions of the game again, certainly in the first half I thought some of our play was excellent.”